Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th

Happy Sunday everyone,




Let me tell you about my roller coaster week. Week started well, my TA is amazing and classes went quite smoothly. I had work on Monday afternoon and then three 14 h days so not much happened outside work. On Wednesday we christened my roof top with some red wine. On Thursday we honored the tradition of girls' pool night. I would like to say that the game is getting better but truth be told, I think we will need a little more than two weeks. On Friday morning I got a phone call from our assistant at 7.40 am asking where I am because my xe om is waiting outside. Checked my schedule- no classes marked. Confused I realised that there is even more updated version of my schedule in my email. And there it is; teaching on Friday morning. I rush through 'getting ready' and run outside; it is pouring down rain ! Miraculously, I made it to the school in time and because I had taught the same lesson 17 times before (we counted) it was rather easy.

Soaked, hungry and cold I headed back to the hotel after class to Skype my manager because the company isn't planning on paying me my full salary after all. Very upset about this, I spent a nasty hour talking about it only to be rushed back into teaching.

Not even going to sugar coat it; my secondary school classes were a nightmare. 50 14-year-old kids who jst refused to listen, partake or calm down. Already being on a very bad mood this just did not suit me at all. I made all the students stand for the 45 minutes the lesson lasted and gave them all a very clear speech about talking in a class room and not paying attention to what was going on. This school is quite impossible because none of the students have the English books, some of them don't even have paper. The entire school is so noisy all the time because the classes are open spaces right by the school yard where at least one class in practicing sports all the time.

After I survived through my classes, I headed home happy that the week was over and that I could head to Ha Long for the weekend on the afternoon bus. As we got to my hotel I tried to pay the xe om for the ride but he is just telling me later later, and shows me a note sheet that he is to ride me to another school that night. Once again I am confused on the phone with the assistant. Yes, I have two more classes - Friday wasn't a three-hour-day but a 13. The evening classes are not in a logical date order in my schedule but somehow the Friday classes are marked separately. Of course, this is my fault too. I didn't look into the schedule properly nor made my own notes to clarify it for myself. I had too much to do to keep up with the schedule changes, and I ended up just blindly using the one I had in hand.

Because of all of this, it wasn't possible to leave for Ha Long in the evening any more. To comfort myself I went to buy 4 ice creams... I actually had to tell the shop keeper (a friend of mine) that there would be other people to come over too ! But I just went to bed and put my favorite TV program on and ate them all !

I woke up at 5 am on Saturday morning to head to the bus stop to make it to Ha Long in time to go through my flat before the cruise, that I promised to teach yoga on, left. Firstly, the taxi driver tried to fool me off my money. I survived that and argued the price back to where it should be. Secondly, I went to the bus departure area and asked for Ha Long Bay bus. I was guided to a bus. They, again, tried to fool me off my money. The ride to Ha Long should last from an hour and a half to about two hours. After an hour and a half I started wondering. I have only taken this journey once, and it was dark, so obviously, I wasn't sure of all the possible routes. After two hours, and seeing nothing familiar, I walked to the front and asked what time will it be in Ha Long. The answer was in 8,5 h. I literally lost it. They had driven me to Hanoi, were going to circle half of Northern Vietnam before even heading closer to Ha Long. Through two Vietnamese/ English speaking people I managed to stop the bus and make the driver find me a bus going back towards Ha Long.

The second bus charged me about a triple and I was informed that they would arrive to Ha Long an hour later the departure time of my cruise. I literally would have cried if I could have but I was so angry I don't think I was even able to cry at that point. I had to pay 4 times the amount I should have just to get back to Ha Long, the driver was an absolute bitch in every sense. I jumped out of the bus in mid-motion as soon as I saw Tuan Chau and started running down the bridge as I was calling the cruise organisator. I was picked up from the bridge and driven to the ship, as soon as I boarded it started moving.

The part of how my week went from a nightmare to perfection in the next post :)


Love you,


Mira


Ps. My heart goes out to all the people who have lost loved ones, for any reason. I really hope that we can unite and find a new connection with each other.